


New, Great, and Wonderful World

by Meatball42



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - Freeform, Foreshadowing, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Hurt Bucky Barnes, Metaphor, Movie Night, Poker Nights, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Avengers Shawarma Scene, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Team as Family, Time Travel, Timey-Wimey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-06 07:33:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19058107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meatball42/pseuds/Meatball42
Summary: The Avengers, newly baptized-by-fire, play host to some unexpected guests on an unexpected Excellent Adventure.





	New, Great, and Wonderful World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lunarium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/gifts).



> This doesn’t fit the canon timeline perfectly!!! I’m sorry, please forgive me. *prostrates self*

_"When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bounds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction and you find yourself in a new, great and wonderful world."_

-Patañjali

  


The movie was, fittingly, _Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure._

None of the Avengers were really sold on it. Natasha was on her phone, texting Maria Hill about the repairs to the Helicarrier. She kept sending side-long glances at Clint, who stared at the screen with the single-minded zombie-like attention of those who were truly high on painkillers. Thor was so confused that he’d stopped paying attention, while Steve had fallen asleep three times already, jerking awake at particularly loud effects. Tony had stuck around until the phone booth was first sucked into the time portal, then left the room, twitching and jittery. This even though he had been the one who insisted on the Inaugural Avengers Movie Night as the price of entry to Stark Tower’s soft beds and non-destroyed guest suites back at the shawarma shop several hours ago. Bruce was already in a suite, excepted from the requirement due to sleeping off the Hulk’s appearance.

When the gold circle began forming in the middle of the living room, three of six Avengers responded.

Thor stood up off the couch, calling his hammer to him. Natasha found a defensible corner, palming a weapon and texting an alarm code to Maria Hill. Steve came awake fully and positioned himself closest to the disturbance.

Clint… slumped further onto the couch, drooling slightly.

The circle widened vertically until it was roughly eight feet in diameter and stopped. Two figures walked out of it like it was a doorway. They were dressed for battle.

“—fine, barely nicked me.”

“You _got shot_. You’re lucky Avengers Tower has a medical suite, or I’d be bringing you to the hospital.”

“You don’t speak Greek.”

“All you gotta do is point at the blood.”

The portal closed behind the pair, and the two individuals who had emerged seemed to notice that there were multiple weapons aimed at them.

“Hey guys,” said the one dressed as Captain America. “Sorry for startling you.”

“Identify yourselves,” Steve commanded.

The interlopers looked around in confusion.

“Uh, I’m Sam Wilson,” said the one dressed as Captain America. “You alright Steve?”

“How did you pierce the walls of the castle?” Thor demanded.

“‘s a teleporter,” said the other intruder, brandishing a hand-held device. He was also dressed for battle, in a strappy, navy blue short coat with one arm covered in metal armor. Part of the coat was a dark reddish brown. Blood dripped on the floor.

“Are there not defenses against unexpected teleportation on this abode?” Thor whispered to Steve. Being Thor, the sound was loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear.

“Teleportation isn’t really common in this neck of the woods,” Natasha explained. She stepped out of her corner.

“Nat,” Sam Wilson said with relief. “Is everything okay here? I know we’re late, but…” he gestured to the rather threatening welcome committee.

“I don’t know who you are,” Natasha announced.

The two groups stared at each other, until the man with the metal armor stepped forward, holding his bleeding side with the arm that wasn’t holding the portal device.

“Steve,” he said gruffly. His eyes flickered around the room under his long bangs. “You know me. I’m Bucky.”

Natasha saw Steve falter and stepped closer, cocking her gun to support his moment of weakness. But Steve corralled.

“Bucky is dead,” he said firmly. “Who are you!”

Sam Wilson held up his hands. “Okay, everyone chill out. I think there’s been a mix-up.”

That was when Iron Man crashed through the window.

“Are you really time travellers?” the suit announced via speaker. “Oh, now that wasn’t kind.”

‘Bucky,’ who had fired on Iron Man in surprise, froze when a repulsor was aimed straight at him.

“Hey!” Sam Wilson stepped into the line of fire between Iron Man and the other arrival. “We come in peace, alright? We’re supposed to be at Avengers Tower for poker night. Stark gave us the teleporter to make sure we got here on time. Genius here,” he indicated the other man, “must have punched in the wrong coordinates.”

The man who called himself Bucky leveled a glare at Sam, but said nothing.

“On the one hand, teleportation is at least twenty years off, but on the other hand, it’s me we’re talking about, and I make six impossible scientific advances before breakfast.” Stark shrugged in the suit.

“There’s a return button, right?” Sam asked the other man, who nodded. “We’ll just be on our way, and sorry for disturbing your evening.”

Natasha kept her weapon level on the pair, waiting for one of them to make a move. But the one who claimed to be ‘Bucky’ input something on the device, then stepped closer to the other, and a mirror of the first portal opened behind them.

Sam seemed eager to depart, while the ‘Bucky’ intruder remained still, watching Steve.

“I’m sorry it takes me so long,” he said suddenly, ignoring Sam tugging on his arm. “But I’ll come in when I’m ready.”

Steve stood still as stone and didn’t reply.

Sam pulled ‘Bucky’ with him through the portal. It winked out behind them.

Steve collapsed on the sofa, which shook Clint awake.

“‘S it done?” he moaned. “Can I have more shawarma now?”

Thor set down his hammer and Tony stepped out of his armor. Natasha texted Maria Hill that the situation had been resolved.

“N’tasha,” Clint slurred, still drooling. “‘M hungry.”

Natasha ignored him. “Well, we know that the Avengers Initiative succeeds,” she commented to the room.

Tony nodded, staring at the space where the portal had appeared. “We’ll have poker nights,” he said quietly.

“What is poker?” Thor asked.

Tony and Natasha glanced at each other, and Natasha got to see the moment hope sparked in Tony’s eyes.

“I’ll show you!” Tony announced. “You’re not tired, are you?” He waved for Thor to follow him into the kitchen.

Natasha sat on the couch next to her two teammates. Clint had fallen back asleep, but Steve was staring at the drops of blood left behind on the floor by the man who had claimed to know him.

“Was that really Bucky?” he whispered.

Natasha took a deep breath and let it out silently before replying. “Maybe,” she said levelly. “Or maybe not. We won’t know until it comes to pass.”

Steve didn’t move even to blink. She touched his wrist.

“Until then… you have us.”

He looked at her with a gaze that thirsted for belonging.

When Thor and Tony returned with a deck of cards and a box of chips, they found three Avengers slumped on top of each other on the couch, sound asleep.

On the television, a time-traveler named Bill mourned for his best friend, only to discover that Ted was alive.


End file.
